The landladies of a popular Plympton pub are calling time, following a long running dispute with the pub's owners.

Mother and daughter team Debbie and Nicola Pearce have run the Post Office Inn on the Ridgeway for more than ten years - and say laws put in place in 2016 to protect publicans have "failed miserably".

The future of the Post Office Inn - a big part of the live music scene in the city - is currently uncertain, but Debbie and Nicola are planning to have a last drink with their legion of loyal customers and friends this Saturday.

Read More

The Post Office Inn's current tenancy agreement with Ei Publican Partnerships - the firm which owns the pub - forces it to buy beer at prices up to double the market rate.

Under Government legislation, the Post Office Inn can apply to break that agreement with Ei and buy beer from a different company, while still paying rent to the pub giant.

However Debbie and Nicola have announced they are leaving the pub, and Saturday will be their last ever night at the Post Office - after they were told their rent would double if tried to use the Government legislation to break the beer buying tie.

The Herald had earlier reported that the Post Office Inn had launched a stinging attack on Ei - after discovering a neighbouring pub had secured a half-price deal with the same firm. A spokesperson for Post Office Inn stressed the attack was not directed at the Sir Joshua Reynolds Pub, or its management, but were solely a criticism of Ei Publican Partnerships.

In response, 'pub co' giant Ei, formerly known as Enterprise Inns, said it offered "a wide range of different business models across our pub estate."

Read More

It then emerged Ei had told the Post Office Inn it would hike it's annual rent from £26,000 to £50,000, if its tenants use Government legislation, which aims to ensure pub companies act in a fair and lawful way in their dealings with their tied tenants, and that tied tenants are no worse off than if they were free of tie and able source their stock from wherever they choose.

The Pubs Code allows tied tenants, who must purchase their beer from firms like Ei at often the double the price it is sold elsewhere, to go free-of-tie by applying for a 'Market Rent Only' (MRO) lease.

In layman's terms, this should means the tenant pays the going market rate for their lease.

However, the tie-free MRO assessment given to the Post Office Inn would almost double their rent - and was FOUR times that paid by the neighbouring Sir Joshua Reyolds, a similar sized pub just a few doors away, in its tied tenant lease with the same firm, Ei.

Read More

The offer was described as "laughable" by the Pubs Advisory Service (PAS), a group which provides information and help to tied pub tenants.

PAS said that while The Post Office's case is far from unique, it demonstrated how the Government's legislation is failing pubs and communities up and down the country - and hoped that the public meeting would be an opportunity to explain how property companies are destroying the great British boozer.

Chris Wright from the PAS told The Herald: "The legislation has simply failed as the pub companies are simply doubling the tied rent figure and putting every barrier in the way of decent honest publicans who are trying to make a living.

Chris Wright from PAS pictured speaking at the public meeting at the Post Office Inn (Image: Matt Gilley)

"This is clear from the laughable offers from Ei to the Post Office, whereby the proposed rent will go from £26,000 to £50,000 per year - and new hugely onerous terms have been placed in front of them - to simply deter them from taking this route."

Read More

Dave Mountford from PAS added: "The MRO option, if applied correctly will release the huge profit that the pub company makes from the beer tie and therefore its not a great surprise that they are fighting so hard to avoid it.

"Whats incredibly frustrating is that we now have a law and an adjudicator who is supposed to apply the law and as demonstrated by EI, but it's being ignored with complete impunity.

Dave Mountford from PAS pictured speaking at the public meeting at the Post Office Inn (Image: Matt Gilley)

Speaking back in May 2017, before a public meeting being held explain their situation to the community, a spokesperson for the Post Office Inn said: "We know of many other local licensees who have lost everything at the hands of Ei and other like minded pub companies and brewers, and we hope that they can attend the meeting to get advice from the PAS and offer their support.

Read More

"It's obvious that this battle will never be won until the general public understands that most tied pubs are owned by property companies who view their pubs as assets to be stripped and sold at their convenience."